Humanitarian aid organizations and international bodies have warned that Gaza is facing "critical" levels of hunger and that famine is "imminent" in parts of the strip.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting “widespread death” without immediate action.

The U.N.-developed panel, known as IPC, said conditions “worsened dramatically” in recent months, with food consumption at its lowest level since the conflict began.

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday in a bid to salvage Gaza ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 30 people when they opened fire Wednesday on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in the north of the Palestinian territory.The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident north of Gaza City,

"Hamas actively interferes with and disrupts aid distribution," Israeli Consul General Afir Okunis told Newsweek.

The hunger crisis in Gaza has many asking if Israel had a deliberate policy of starving civilians. Israelis say that was never the case, but an ignorance of Palestinian suffering allowed an inconsistent government policy to lead to a calamity.